I will give him...the land and set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly. {Deuteronomy 1:36}
Every
difficult task that comes across your path--every one that you would
rather not do, that will take the most effort, cause the most pain, and
be the greatest struggle--brings a blessing with it. And refusing to do
it regardless of the personal cost is to miss the blessing.
Every difficult stretch of road on which you see the Master's footprints
and along which He calls you to follow Him leads unquestionably to
blessings. And they are blessings you will never receive unless you
travel the steep and thorny path.
Every battlefield you encounter, where you are required to draw your
sword and fight the enemy, has the possibility of victory that will
prove to be a rich blessing to your life. And every heavy burden you are
called upon to lift hides within itself a miraculous secret of
strength. J.R. Miller
I cannot do it alone;
The waves surge fast and high.
And the fogs close around,
the light goes out in the sky;
But I know that we two
Will win in the end,
Jesus and I.
Cowardly, wayward, and weak.
I change with the changing sky;
Today so eager and bright,
Tomorrow too weak to try;
But He never gives in.
So we two will win,
Jesus and I.
I could not guide it myself,
My boat on life's wild sea;
There's One who sits by my side,
Who pulls and steers with me.
And I know that we two,
Will safe enter port,
Jesus and I.
The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. ~Psalm 138:8
When a person who suffers reaches a point where he can be calm
and carefree, inwardly smiling at his own suffering and no longer asking
God to be delivered from it, then the suffering has accomplished its
blessed ministry, perseverance has "finish[ed] its work" (James 1:4),
and the pain of the Crucifixion has begun to weave itself into a crown.
The promise comes by FAITH, so that it may be GUARANTEED. ~Romans 4:16Faith is the only way to obtain God's blessings.
There may be a great work occurring in your life when things seem the darkest. You may see NO evidence YET, but GOD IS at
work. Are you reading this from a place in your life where everything
seems dark? Do you have faith to see but are still not seeing? Are you
lacking continual victory in your spiritual growth? Is your daily, quiet
communion gone, and there is nothing but darkness all around? God works
through the night until the morning light dawns. You may not see it
yet, but through the night of your life, as you trust Him, He works. C.H.P.
You must trust when all else fails!! Great faith must first endure great trials.
All of this devotion was taken from various daily devotions from Streams in the Desert for Graduates by L.B. Cowman